In Win 805 Case Review

Overview

The last In Win case that I tested (In Win D-Frame Mini) I personally thought was brilliant hence the Silver award and I have been looking forward to taking a look at an In Win case ever since. Well that wait is now over as today I will be taking a look at the new In Win 805. This is the black edition, but red and gold versions are also available.

The In Win 805 is a Mid Tower case featuring a skeleton design and is made exclusively from aluminium and 3mm thick tempered glass. The 805 features support for mini-ITX, micro ATX or ATX builds that include up to eight expansion cards and supports ATX Power Supplies up to 220mm in length. There are no 5.25″ bays but there’s support for up to two HDDs courtesy of a single internal (removable) drive cage or six SSDs. The 805 will accommodate Graphics Cards up to 320mm in length (164mm height) and CPU Coolers up to 156mm in height. The case itself comes equipped with a single 120mm exhaust fan at the rear, an additional four fans can also be installed (x2 120/140mm front) or (x2 120mm floor). There’s also support in the front of the case for radiators up to 280mm in size. The In Win 805 measures in at 476mm (H) x 205mm (D) x 455mm (D).

‘805 features a see through skeleton case structure design offering versatile HDD mounting positions creating excellent flexibility. 805 supports the all-new reversible USB 3.1 Type-C to which increases your high speed data transmissions. 805 is inherited the spirit of pursuing exquisite craftsmanship and innovative designing that brings not only the visual aesthetics but also gaming performance.’

AS you can see from the image above the In Win 805 for all of its style arrived at pcG in a rather uninspiring (but no doubt eco friendly) brown cardboard box, with just the In Win name and logo atop!

There’s a little more detail on the sides of the box though; on the left side we find a basic features (see Specifications/Features below) list along with information as to which version of the case we have, although I’m unsure how Others helps anyone!?

On the right side of the case there’s a list of the 805’s specifications (see Specifications/Features below) as well as eight small images (top right) that highlight some of the other major features of this case.

On opening the oversized box we can see some of that In Win attention to detail and style emerging as we are presented with a case that wrapped in a soft material bag and protected by large soft-cell foam bumpers in each corner, with plenty of room around the outside of the case. We also find a resealable wallet containing all of the accessories and manual.

As we can see the case itself was further protected by a nice soft material cover/bag, although I was disappointed not to at least see a nice In Win name/logo on it!

The resealable bag that comes with the In Win 805 contains a basic installation manual, cleaning cloth, five cable clips and a handful of cable ties and five bags of screws and washers that are all labelled.

At the time of review, the In Win 805 is retailing on Amazon for approximately £123 and comes with a 2 year warranty.

First Impressions

First impressions of the In Win 805 are very good indeed, this is not just simply a well made case, this is a feat of engineering in itself! The fact that the case is made exclusively from aluminium and glass is truly impressive, you’ll not find any plastic moulded parts here guys! The skeleton style may not appeal to all though, but it’s one I personally like, as it’s simply so different to any other case on the market right now, well apart from cases made by In Win themselves that is. One thing that is apparent quite early on though is that fact that the 805 only ships with one exhaust fan, personally I think this is crazy, especially on a case costing close to £125! Anyway, let’s take a closer look shall we…

Both sides of the In Win 805 are actually identical apart from a sticker that is! Each side panel is made of a single piece of 3mm thick tempered smoked glass, that is held in place by four aluminum thumb screws. These glass panels have four locating holes that line up with four rubber mounts on each side of the case.

Looking at the front of the In Win 805 we can again see the use of glass, although this panel is not supposed to be removed. If necessary it can be by removing the four retaining screws (that’s what the four circles are) on the inside of the front of the case. In the centre we have a simple white (non illuminating) In Win logo, and at the top we have the main front panel controls (see below). The honeycomb pattern that you see behind the glass panel is also of interest as this will allow light within the case to light up the pattern itself. For me this is a big aesthetic plus, yet In Win have chosen not to install any illumination themselves at the front of the case and no fans!?

The back of the case is a pretty much standard affair at the top left we have the main IO shield cutout and to the right of this we can see the only pre-installed fan. This fan is 120mm in size and has a rotational speed of 1200rpm. Below this we see eight expansion slots meaning that the case could cope with a triple Graphics Card setup (motherboard permitting) with a slot’s gap between each one, which is good to see. Finally at the bottom we have the main Power Supply cutout supporting PSU’s up to 220mm in length.

x2 USB 2.0

Microphone Jack

Headphone Jack

USB 3.0

USB 3.1 (Type-C)

Drive activity indicator (green)

Power LED

Power button

The main control panel found at the top of the front of the case comprises of a simple coloured aluminium panel, in our case this panel is black (red and gold also available). Housed within this panel are the controls and and ports listed above, note that there is no reset button. The power switch itself is also made from aluminium and is particularly nice to the touch!

The top of the 805 features a very smart brushed aluminium panel that covers the entire top of the case. This finish itself is particularly noteworthy and looks (especially in the light) rather exclusive and dare I say expensive. Note, rather unusually there is no cooling options or vents in the top of the case!

Moving our attention to the bottom of the case we can see the two main plastic feet (fitted with rubber inserts) that lift the base of the case off of the surface by approximately 10mm. On the right we have what one would think would be the Power Supply dust filter, but no it is not! This dust filter is at the front of the case and is a position where two 120mm fans can be installed if required. As there is no PSU dust filter the PSU must be mounted with the fan (rather unusually) facing upwards!? Although this isn’t necessarily a problem, I’m unsure why In Win didn’t just have the same filter back and front!?

The dust filter itself is simply held in place by way of magnets, it’s a cool idea but it does move around a bit while handling the case, so you need to be careful…

Removing the glass side panel from the left side of case allows us to take a better look at the internals, and I can now stop worrying about those pesky reflections in my photos! 😉 As you can see the interior of the In Win 805 is pretty minimalistic and that’s a good thing as there’s a good deal of space in here to work with! It is also at this point that I began to marvel at the engineering, this is a seriously well made case. On the left we have the Power Supply bay area above which we have a triangular separator that is probably more about rigidity and aesthetics than anything else. To the right of this at the front of the case we find the main drive cage, supporting either two HDDs, two SSDs (three with one at the top) or one of each. We can also see there’s a well placed CPU cut-out as well as a raft of other holes in the back of the case, most of which are for SSDs and or cable management. We can also see where one might mount a radiator (up to 280mm) or a couple of intake fans (120/140mm supported). But an interesting thought is where will those intake fans pull their cool air in from? The front of the case is sealed! Finally we come to that well placed IN WIN logo in all of its glory that will illuminate (white) when the case is powered up, very smart…

Looking at the In Win 805 from the other side we can see, well, more holes really; there seems to be more holes than panel to be honest! 😉 What we do have here though is plenty of space for cable management (approximately 12mm). We can also now see the three additional SSD mounts more easily from this side. What does seem to be missing is there appears to be no cable tie points, not that I can see anyway…

Homing in on some of the finer aspects of the In Win 805, let’s first take a look at the Power Supply bay, or lack thereof! The PSU location is found in its normal place at the bottom,/back of the case, but note the orientation label. The PSU MUST be placed fan side up as there is no vent in the bottom of the case, now while this is fine, I’m confused as to why there’s no vent in the bottom of the case. Especially as there’s a big vent at the front of the bottom of the case!?

Also note the strange but rather cool looking PSU separator (triangular section) that may just be adding some rigidity to the overall design. There’s also no rubber mounts for the PSU to sit on which is a shame, but I guess if it’s not aluminium or glass it’s just not allowed! 🙂

Now let’s take a look at that drive cage, the only one in the case BTW. This cage can support two HDDs or two SSDs (three with the one at the top) or one of each. The drive cage itself can also be removed completely (by way of four screws) or re-positioned on the inside of the front panel (using three of the screws) if necessary, which is pretty clever and useful. Each bay features a basic (flex to fit) drive caddie supporting both 3.5″ and 2.5″ drives, these caddies simply slide in and out and clip into position.

The rather odd looking image (above left) actually shows you how to access the screws that need to be removed in order to remove the caddie itself. The screws are hidden behind the rubber feet that are easily removed from the foot of the case.

Turning out attention to the fans or lack thereof, we find ourselves touching on what will become a very hot topic by the end of this review, why? Well let’s start by talking about the one included fan. The In Win 805 (at approx. £125) comes with one fan, yes that’s right one fan!? And that fan, a 120mm fan can be found at the back of the case acting as an exhaust. But In Win have decided not to include any front fans, allowing you to choose your own. Personally I feel that all cases costing over £50 should come with at least one intake and one exhaust fan. So as you can gather I’m a little disappointed by the lack of fans in this case. OK rant over for now…

We can install though either two 120mm or two 140mm in the front, there’s even room for a radiator up to 280mm in size. This can be done by attaching you desired setup to the fan/radiator bracket that’s attached to the front of the case by way of just a couple of screws, thumb screws at that. My worry here though is the fact that whatever you assemble here lives inside of the case and remember the front of the case is sealed, covered by a sheet of glass. My question then is; where’s the cool air going to come from?

Finally we come to the SSD mounts found attached to the back of the case. These simple little devices attach by way of a single thumb screw while the drive itself is secured to the mount by way of four screws. There’s three in total one upper mount and two lower mounts.

Although I’m very impressed with both the design and the engineering that has gone into the In Win 805, you can see in a few places where form has surpassed function. Now while none of the small flaws found concern me too much, one of them does have me a little concerned, can you guess what it is… 😉

In preparation for the installation I attached the (Seagate 2TB) SHDD drive to one of the drive sleds. It’s one of the bendy type sleds that can simply be bent and then clipped into position on each side of the drive. The HyperX Furry SSD was to be mounted to one of the drive brackets at the back of the case, the top one was removed and secured to the drive bracket by way of four screws.

The first task was installing the Corsair AX760i Power Supply, this needed to be installed fan side up (rather oddly) as the In Win 805 has no rear grill to support fan side down! The drive fits easily though and is secured by the regular four screws. The In Win 805 can accommodate Power Supplies up to 220mm in length. Also note that I chose to install all of the cables first, as this gives me some idea of the task ahead!

I then installed the Motherboard Assembly, to do this I needed to add an additional four stand-offs to make up the ten (normally nine) required by the ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6 motherboard. Unfortunately this task was far more difficult than it should be, why? Well In Win have chosen to make the I/O shield cut-out with no sides meaning that (although it clips into place) it can move from side to side. This means that you’ll have to go through a process trial and error until you find the correct position for the I/O shield and the alignment of motherboard stand-offs! 🙁

Cabling up was actually pretty easy and I didn’t really run into any gotchas, all of the cable management holes within the back of the case were really well placed, although the lack of any grommets made me a little uneasy, although it didn’t seem to bother the cables too much! 😉 I’m also a BIG fan of the flat very flexible cable that In Win has used for the USB 3.0/3.1 ports on the front of the case. Far better than anything else I have ever come across! Although I was less keen on the fact that the illumination of the IN WIN logo required a Molex connector, it would make far more sense (IMHO) to use a SATA power connector instead, as this is likely to already be present in your build and cuts down on unnecessary cabling.

Also I’m not a lover of the coloured cables; the black braided cables are of course fine, but the coloured cables within just upset the balance a little. Personally (especially on a case like this) all cabling, even the inner cables should be black.

The last piece of the puzzle was to add our rather toasty test Graphics Card an XFX R9 290 DD Black Edition, as you can see from the image above (left) the card fitted with ease despite its long length of approximately 295mm. There’s still plenty of room too as the 805 can accommodate cards up to a maximum length of 320mm.

As you can see from the back of the case, with all of the necessary cables installed it gets a little messy, especially as there doesn’t really seem to be any cable tie points. Well that’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking to it! 😉 The SSD mount was very cool though, easy to install and easy to cable up! There’s also plenty of room back here for cable management, allowing you to bunch cables together should you wish to do a better job than I did! And, don’t forget a glass panel is not going to hide your bunch of knitting from you or your friends, damn that glass paneling!

Once it’s all together though and the panels are back on, after a good polish to remove all of the finger prints, there’s no denying the In Win 805 is a good looking case. And, when we turn it on, things are only going to get better…

Testing Methodology/Setup

At pcGameware we use Prime95 and ASRock’s F-Stream utility to evaluate CPU temperatures and voltage, and we use MSI Afterburner to evaluate the GPU temperatures. Of course Prime95 being a CPU stress test also helps to generate heat for us to check the case thermals. We also use UNiGiNE Heaven 4.0 for GPU temperature testing.

CPU performance testing is carried out using Prime95 (Small FFT) to stress the CPU. Each run is timed for 15 mins and the maximum temperature is recorded for all cores and then the average core heat is taken. Testing was carried out with an overclocked Intel Core i5-6600K at 4.4GHz courtesy of the ASRock UEFI.

GPU performance testing is carried out by running UNiGiNE Heaven 4.0 for 15 minutes and then by recording the maximum GPU temperature.

* All case fans (x1 in the case of the In Win 805) and the CPU Cooler (Noctua NH-U12S) are run at 100% throughout testing. To ascertain case noise levels, the GPU fans are set to their lowest setting and the CPU Cooler fan is unplugged, whilst the dBA is recorded from 1m away.

Apologies first for these grids being a little sparse, but we have just cut over to a new Gaming Test Rig. As we have changed the motherboard, CPU, CPU Cooler and RAM all of the old thermal results are simply no longer comparable. Please bear with us as we expand our range of tested hardware…

From a CPU cooling the performance point of view the In Win 805 fares ok, keeping our overclocked 4.4GHz CPU at 64 degrees Celsius (40 degree Delta) or lower during our Prime 95 torture test. This is more than adequate for everyday Gaming with this level of overclock, where the CPU will never even hit these kinds of temperatures. As I said before (many times!) there’s not many of us who sit down for an evening of Prime 95…

Keeping our toasty XFX R9 290X DD Black Edition Graphics Card cool is no easy task, and we often see this card thermally throttling at around 94 degrees Celsius! And wow, there was no way I was expecting that result, a maximum of 81 degrees Celsius is really rather good, especially when you consider there’s only one (120mm) exhaust fan! I can only assume that the fact that there’s plenty of room around the Graphics Card and the fact that the case itself is cool (it’s made from aluminium and glass don’t forget) has helped to keep the temperatures down. It’s sure as hell isn’t down to the In Win 805 having good airflow…

That leads me on to an interesting topic, GPU cooling! Here at pcG we’re all about Gaming and Gaming is all about that one important component the Graphics Card, and we want to keep that as cool as possible! So I wondered how the In Win 805 would fare and look with a couple of Corsair white LED fans in the front of the case!? The aesthetic result is extremely good, as you now get to see more of that honeycomb effect through the front of the case, but what about the cooling?

Well I hope you’re sat down as the cooling with both fans at 100% acting as an intake was worse!? YES, the temperature went up by a couple of degrees (and yes, I double checked my results)! After some confusion (read a lot of confusion) I finally got to the bottom of it (I think) and dare I say I thought about this and mentioned this earlier in the review. The In Win 805 has no intake vents at the front of the case, it’s all covered by that lovely glass panel. The net result is that by adding two fans INSIDE the case all you do is move that warm air around within the case, making matters worse. As before, at least the hot airit was just be exhausted…

At this point it was time to prove a point. So I then removed the two front fans, removed the drive cage (see main review) and installed x2 120mm fans in the bottom of the case, where they can pull in cool air through the dust filter that’s already there. The end result is that temperatures came down by a few degrees, result!

I would be easy to go on a rant at this point and wonder why In Win have built a case in this way, but that is their way and it is basically about form over function. Also I spotted on their own website when they talk about cooling and airflow they show an image of fans in the bottom of the case not the front! So maybe, just maybe they’re already aware of this odd cooling setup. And at least you know now as well…

Acoustic Performance

Unsurprisingly the In Win 805 with its one fan is pretty much whisper quiet, even when the fan is running at 100%. With our test equipment we were only able to measure approximate 34dBA, which is pretty darn quiet to be fair. At around 30dBA we are getting close to what most people think (or is that hear) to be silence.

Final Thoughts

The In Win 805 is best described as a flawed Gem; while the design is striking and the engineering is impressive, the compromised design has resulted in a rather unusual cooling setup, one that will require the buyer to invest more money to get their perfect Gaming Rig…

The In Win 805 arrived at pcG in a rather uninspiring large brown cardboard box, but I guess at least it’s eco friendly. The contents within were both well packaged and nicely presented with the case itself protected within a fabric bag, although a nice In Win logo on the bag wouldn’t have gone a miss.

Once out of the box two things become apparent, the first of which is how light the case is especially considering it’s made from aluminium and 3mm thick tempered glass. The second is just how beautifully engineered the case is, it’s not easy to design and construct a case from just aluminium and glass, but there’s no doubt that In Win have pulled it off!

The engineering becomes even more apparent when you take a look inside the case, that’s nice and airy with plenty of room even for a multiple Graphics Card setup. The 805 can handle Graphics Cards up to 320mm in length, CPU Coolers up to 156mm in height and Power Supplies up to 220mm in length. On face value there’s not much wrong with the design either, support for USB 3.1 as well as the most flexible USB 3.0 cable I’ve come across, well placed cable management holes and good space at the rear, as well as a removable/re-positionable drive cage and four clever SSD mounts. Downsides include an extremely difficult to fit I/O shield and motherboard (see Hardware Installation) as well as coloured cables within the black braided ones.

Performance wise the In Win 805 performed surprisingly well considering it only comes with one fan. With a CPU maximum temperature of 64 (40 Delta) degrees while overclocked to 4.4GHz and an AMD R9 290X GPU temperature of 81 (58 Delta) degrees, the case can obviously house an impressive Gaming Rig. The problems start when you think about adding more cooling and or lighting to the case, because In Win hasn’t done this out of the box, something that I think is a little poor, especially considering the asking price of around £125.

The obvious choice (IMHO) is to add two illuminating fans to the front of the case, via that very useful fan/radiator bracket. This will logically give better aesthetics as it will allow light to shine through the honeycomb design behind that front glass panel. And it should also improve cooling. BUT: I added two Corsair SP140 fans to the front and the cooling got worse, GPU temps rose by a few degrees!? This is because there’s no cool air for the fans to suck in, the front of the case is effectively sealed by that glass panel. What you end up doing is picking up warm air from inside the case and swirling it around within! The answer it would seem (note that the In Win site also shows this) is to remove the drive cage or re-position it on the front panel and install a couple of 120mm fans in the floor. These do have access to cool air via the filter in the bottom of the case. The end result was that temperatures whet down by a few degrees, GPU temps ended up closer to 78 (56 Delta) degrees. No while this may seem like a solution you’ve now lost the nice illuminating aesthetic from the front fans, and quite frankly you now don’t want to fit any either!?

It is this that lets the case down IMHO; you could add some dedicated illumination and or add an AIO radiator/fan setup, then temperatures may improve further and the aesthetics will be great. But as a user/buyer of the In Win 805 you shouldn’t really have to worry about this.

As I said a flawed Gem! Yes the In Win 805 is a beautiful case with some of the finest engineering I’ve seen and yes it can look good and it can be cool. But to get there you are going have to give some further thought to your setup and your going to have to invest more money. Is it still worth it, only you can decide…